Mechanical Waves. Chapter 15 Flashcards
Mechanical wave
A disturbance that travels through some material or substance called the medium.
Increasing frequency causes wavelength to decrease so the product wave speed equals wavelength times frequency remains the same and waves of all frequencies propagate with the same wave speed.
Traverse wave
Displacement of the medium are perpendicular or Traverse to the direction of travel of the wave along the medium.
Longitudinal wave
Motions of the particles of the medium are back and forth along the same direction that the wave travels.
Speed of propagation or wave speed
The disturbance travels or propagate with a definite speed through the medium
When a sinusoidal wave passes through a medium…
Every particle in the medium undergoes simple harmonic motion with the same frequency
Wavelength
The distance from one Crest to the next or from one trophic to the next or from any point to the corresponding point on the next repetition of the wave shape
Wave speed equals
Wavelength times frequency
Amplitude
The height of the crest above the equilibrium level
Wave speed is determined by
Mechanical properties of the medium
Wavelength and frequency are ____ of the amplitude
Independent
What determines the speed of transverse waves on a string
Detention in the string and its mass per unit length also called linear mass density
Traverse impulse equals
Traverse momentum
Intensity
The time average rate at which energy is transported by the wave per unit area across a surface perpendicular to the direction of the propagation
Interference
Refers to what happens when two or more waves pass through the same region at the same time
Boundary conditions
The conditions at the end of the string such as a rigid support or the absence of Traverse Force
Principle of superposition
When two waves overlap the actual displacement of any point on the string at any time is obtained by adding the displacement the point would have if only the first wave or present and the displacement it would have if only the second wave were present
Example of the principle of superposition
When a friend talks to you while you were listening to music you can distinguish the speech in the music from each other
Nodes
Point at which the string never moves
Antinodes
Point at which the amplitude of stream motion is the greatest
Normal mode
A normal mode of an oscillating system is the motion in which all particles of the system move sinusoidally with the same frequency
Constructive interference
When two identical waves combine to form one bigger wave
Destructive interference
When a wave and a wave that is 180 degrees out of phase combined you get no wave at all they cancel
